24th Ward Underground.
Amano Hiro and Eto stood in the distance, watching the newly replaced Dragon core, waiting for the Dragon to awaken.
However, as time passed, Eto's expression became increasingly unpleasant.
"Did Kanou Akihiro actually deceive us?"
Amano Hiro, on the other hand, seemed thoughtful.
"No. The Dragon really has reacted, but the reaction is extremely slow. At this rate, it may take several days before it fully awakens."
Hearing Amano Hiro say that there was a reaction, Eto's expression finally relaxed. She had been afraid that Kanou Akihiro had deceived her.
Her ideal was right in front of her. If it failed, it would truly be more painful than death.
"Let's go. Since it cannot awaken anytime soon, we should go back and wait slowly."
Amano Hiro called out to Eto.
Eto looked at the Dragon once more, then nodded. There was no point in waiting here.
...
After the press conference, CCG began carrying out drastic reforms. They reorganized everything, replacing those who needed to be replaced and arresting those who needed to be arrested.
It could be said that the entire CCG was now more united than ever before, completely renewed.
After discussions, CCG was also given a new name. It was changed to TSC, the Tokyo Security Committee.
Marude Itsuki became the Senior Director of TSC, while Arima Kishou became the highest-ranking Security Officer.
The other Special-Class Investigators also continued serving in TSC.
Although everything seemed full of hope on the surface, there were still some troublesome issues.
For example, Arima Kishou's cooperation with Slaughter, as well as the future policy toward ghouls.
These were extremely difficult problems. Meetings were basically held every day to discuss them, but they were issues that could not be solved overnight.
Although they had learned some information from Arima Kishou about the plan for humans and ghouls to coexist,
changing the hatred that had been deeply rooted for so long was absolutely impossible to accomplish immediately.
This was not a problem that could be solved with just a few words. Otherwise, ghouls and humans would not have continued fighting for over a hundred years.
The most fundamental issue was the food problem of ghouls.
Ghouls could only maintain their lives by consuming humans, while humans would never willingly allow ghouls to eat them.
Unless they could research food that ghouls could consume, or allow ghouls to become humans, but those things only existed as ideals.
How could this problem possibly be solved all at once?
It could only be handled slowly, step by step.
Marude Itsuki's hair had turned noticeably grayer these past few days. Sometimes, he really felt exhausted.
He was now the highest-ranking official, so he had to take responsibility for these difficult problems.
Right now, he truly wanted to resign and stop working.
Whoever wanted the position could have it.
After finishing today's meeting, he stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, smoking with his brows tightly furrowed.
He was considering whether he should meet with the leader of the ghouls and discuss future plans.
He had also learned from Arima Kishou that "Slaughter" was the current leader of the ghouls.
Even Arima Kishou said that the monster was impossible to defeat. Even if they wanted to exterminate the ghouls, it was impossible.
The only option now was to sit down and negotiate.
"Exhale. Damn it!"
...
Time passed in the blink of an eye.
Five days had passed.
During this time, Amano Hiro acted as if nothing had happened. In reality, there simply was nothing for him to do.
Every day, he stayed at home being affectionate with Rize. Occasionally, he went out for a walk, as if he had completely forgotten about the Dragon's awakening.
At noon, with the sunlight shining brightly, Amano Hiro was chatting and joking with everyone at :re.
Yoshimura and the others had also learned about the recent series of events. Amano Hiro had not hidden the matter of the Dragon from them and simply explained it briefly.
Although Yoshimura felt that many people might die because of this,
he had to admit that this was indeed a method capable of changing the relationship between ghouls and humans.
Koma Enji asked jokingly:
"Hiro, when are you going to have a child with Rize-chan?"
Amano Hiro smiled.
"Wait until..."
Boom!
Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a sound that shook heaven and earth, followed by a violent earthquake.
A sharp glint flashed in Amano Hiro's eyes.
"It's here."
The customers inside the coffee shop panicked and rushed outside. Although earthquakes happened frequently,
this earthquake was especially severe, and no one dared remain indoors.
Yoshimura opened his eyes, which had always been half-closed, and looked seriously at Amano Hiro, whose eyes were shining.
"Hiro, this is..."
"That's right. The Dragon has awakened!"
Amano Hiro stood up and walked outside. He wanted to personally see how magnificent this Dragon was.
The moment he left the coffee shop, he spread his wings and shot into the sky, completely ignoring the shocked reactions of the pedestrians.
The view from the air was naturally much better than from the ground. The entire central district was visible below.
At this moment, he also received a message from Eto.
[Hiro, the Dragon has come alive.]
Amano Hiro quickly replied.
[Yeah, I already saw it.]
The earthquake was still continuing.
Boom!
The ground in the center of the city was torn open, and a gigantic dark brown tentacle shot into the sky.
Moving at incredible speed, it twisted and crawled through the city.
The appearance of this Dragon was completely different from the Dragon that Kaneki Ken transformed into in the original story.
Kaneki Ken's Dragon was a gigantic centipede-like Dragon, but this Dragon looked more like an enormous earthworm.
There were also smaller tentacles on its body that resembled legs. In front of this colossal creature, reinforced concrete buildings were like paper.
With just a slight touch, they collapsed into ruins.
Along its winding path, countless buildings were reduced to rubble.
The scene was incredibly spectacular for a moment. Countless screams rang out from the streets, and the entire Tokyo seemed to have entered the apocalypse.
Amano Hiro wondered whether this Dragon had received some kind of karmic bonus.
Hovering in the sky, Amano Hiro suddenly spun around and changed direction.
After accelerating, he landed steadily on the top of Tokyo Tower.
Looking down at the scene below that resembled a living hell, his heart remained completely calm.
He even thought that if he had a Myriad Soul Banner at this moment, wouldn't he be able to harvest a huge wave of souls?
He suddenly sensed Rize's presence. She was out shopping with Touka.
However, he did not go looking for her.
As for her safety, he was even less worried. At this stage, no one could threaten her.
The most important thing now was to witness this exciting opening ceremony.
The Dragon's movement continued, and the disturbance grew larger and larger.
Huge tentacles broke out from underground in every direction of the city, wildly destroying everything around them.
No one knew how long passed.
The Dragon that had been moving forward suddenly stopped.
Countless huge eye-like organs all over its body flickered between light and darkness.
Inside the massive underground hole where the first tentacle emerged, another gigantic tentacle suddenly extended.
At the top of the tentacle was a massive flower bud.
Then the flower bud slowly opened.
As it unfolded, a red mist resembling pollen sprayed out from within.
After that, the entire Dragon's body stopped moving.
The eyes on its body no longer emitted dazzling red light.
Amano Hiro stood at the top of the tower with his hands in his pockets. He could not help but raise the corners of his mouth.
A light chuckle escaped him, which finally turned into loud laughter.
"Haha... hahahaha."
For some reason, his mood at this moment was extremely joyful.